


A Glimpse into The Past

by Smart_heart



Category: Hilda (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23559985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smart_heart/pseuds/Smart_heart
Summary: Scenes of Johanna’s growing up in Trollberg, with the presence of a dear friend by her side.
Relationships: Johanna | Hilda's Mum & The Librarian (Hilda), Johanna | Hilda's Mum/The Librarian (Hilda)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rewatching The Bird Parade gave me plot bunnies, and my sketchbooker brain just had to work on them, so now you have this. Hope you enjoy!

Seeing that girl sitting by herself on the park, Johanna knew this was the opportunity she had been waiting for. In their Sparrow Scouts meeting the day before, Raven Leader had presented them with a challenge: make a new friend in the spam of two weeks, and get the “social butterfly” badge.

Maven was a closed off girl. Not exactly shy, see, but it had always seemed like she would rather be reading than talking to people. Johanna knew this because the girl was just one year behind her in school, and sometimes she would notice her reading by herself on the cafeteria. She must be lonely.

But now was the perfect time to try and befriend her! Maven would get a new friend to talk to, and Johanna would get a brand new badge! It was a win win situation. 

She approached the girl with a smile on her face. She was sitting on one of the benches, swinging her legs as she read. Her hair was dark and thick, growing barely past her shoulders, and her bangs nearly covered her eyes. She was hunched over her book, clearly very interested, but she straightened up when Johanna cleaned her throat.

“Good morning!” She greeted her when she noticed she had her attention. “I was wondering if I could talk to you?”

Maven tilted her head to the side. “What do you want to talk to me about?”

Johanna hesitated. She hadn’t really thought about that. “Um… what are you reading?”

That seemed to have been the perfect answer. Maven’s eyes lit up, and she went from wary to excited quicker than Johanna had ever seen anyone do. She suspected the girl didn’t get many chances to talk about her books.

“It’s a book I got from the library some yesterday! It’s about a princess who is stuck in a tower guarded by a dragon.”

Johanna exhaled, admittedly a little disappointed. There were tons of stories like that. Still, she tried to feign interest.“And gets saved by a knight?”

The younger girl scrunched her nose. “No! That wouldn’t be fun at all. She actually finds a magical sword amidst the hubris of the crumbling part of the tower, and fights her way out of it!” 

Maven put her fists close together as if she were holding a sword, and slashed her imaginary weapon across the air. Johanna’s eyes widened. That did sound interesting.

“The book begins with her finding it and escaping, and then she goes have all sorts of magical adventures!” She exclaimed with visible glee, and then looked up to find Johanna looking at her with curiosity written in her eyes. She smiled.

“Do you want to know what happens next?”

Johanna nodded, and Maven’s smile turned into a grin as she scooted to the side, making way for Johanna to sit. The other girl took the hint, and sat close to her to look at the book.

“She has decided she doesn’t want to go home, at least not yet. She loves her family, but she knows that if she comes back, they might try to marry her away! So since she’s decided to live in the woods for a while, she’s now searching for the cottage of a witch of whom she’s heard legends before! She wants the witch to teach her how to fend for herself without any more violence, even though she still has the sword.”

Johanna tore her gaze away from the book, where she had been admiring a beautiful illustration of the heroine walking in the woods, and brought it to Maven’s face. “And then?”

The girl shrugged. “Well, this is what I’ve read so far. Do you want me to read it out loud?”

Johanna nodded, getting herself more comfortable on the bench. “Yeah, please.”

Maven smiled at her, pleased to have someone to share the story with, and Johanna smiled back. How curious, that suddenly befriending this girl wasn’t about the badge anymore at all.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been years since she’d been able to watch the parade from that spot. Ever since she had joined The Sparrow Scouts, she had been _in_ the parade. And even after she left them, which had happened two years before because she had grown too old, the Raven Leader had asked for Johanna’s help with some parts of the organization when the time came. 

But this year, even though she had been invited to help again, she had declined. There was someone she wanted to watch this year’s parade with. 

“Are you absolutely sure we aren’t lost? Because it looks like it.”

Maven looked around herself with pretend cautiousness, making Johanna roll her eyes. Recently, her friend had taken an interest in the tale of the Great Raven, reading book after book on its mythological origin and its appearances on the town, as well as what happened on the year he didn’t come. And, with Maven’s thirteenth birthday coming, Johanna wanted to share this with her.

“Of course I am! I used to watch it from there every year before I became a Sparrow Scout.” She answered, leading her friend through the obscure streets, their hands closed together.

“Well, but you were a Sparrow Scout ever since you were very little. It wouldn’t be surprising if you forgot how to get there, this looks like a labyrinth!”

Johanna shot her a look. “Just trust me.”

Not five minutes later, the arrived at Johanna’s spot. A thick stone wall separated them from the Main Street. Maven lifted an eyebrow. “What now?”

“Come here.” Johanna pulled her closer to the wall. There were a few wooden boxes scattered on the floor, and Johanna put them together to look somewhat like a stair, and climbed them, sitting atop the wall and extending her hand for Maven to take. 

Her friend looked between her hand and the boxes, before taking the help she offered and climbing up by her side. Once she was well balanced on top of the grey rocks, made cool by the chilly night air, Maven looked down at the street in front of them and gasped. She could see the parade beginning on the far end of it, and they truly were at the perfect spot to watch it when it came near. They would practically be in the middle of it!

When Maven turned to her after taking their spot in, Johanna thought that no matter how shiny the fireworks were tonight, they wouldn’t be brighter than the beautiful smile Maven gave her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this says it’s only two chapters, but I really like this idea, so maybe I’ll continue if you guys like it too


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rewatching The Sparrow Scouts gave me this idea. By the time we finish the rewatch, we might have many chapters, at this pace 😅

Maven’s hoodie was old. It was grey when it once had been black, the cotton had been thinned by time and there were a few threads out of place. At this point, it looked as warm as a potato sack.

Not to say that it was like that for no reason. Oh, no, it most certainly wasn’t. Her friend had worn it practically every day ever since her mother had gifted it to her when she was ten. Maven had grown surprisingly attached to the hoodie, saying that it was extremely comfortable and smelt nice (this last part Johanna couldn’t deny. When she forgot her own jacket and her friend lent her the hoodie, she felt the scent of lavender and rosemary, typical of Maven, so of course it smelt nice)

But now autumn was coming, and it was beginning to be clear that she needed to change it. It no longer covered her wrists, and Johanna swore she could see her tremble slightly when they left school together and were hit by the cold air. She had mentioned this to Maven, but her concerns had been waved off. She either didn’t see anything wrong, or didn’t want to admit it.

However, Johanna wasn’t one to give up easily. She would not have her best friend feeling cold due to her own stubbornness if she could help it, and she was sure she could.

Maven didn’t show it a lot, but she had a really sentimental side; Johanna had first noticed this when they were very young and had only recently become friends. She’d given Maven a drawing she’d did of the heroine in her book, the one who found the sword and escaped her prison. Later the same week, Johanna had been at her house, and discovered that her drawing had been put in a place of honour, taped to the wall at the side of Maven’s bed. Since then, she’d given her friend tons of homemade gifts, and they were always favored beyond other similar things that she’d had before. 

For example, Maven used to sleep with a stuffed bear she had inherited from an older cousin; but when Johanna had learned to sew in order to achieve a task for the Sparrow Scouts, and made her a fluffy (although slightly deformed) bat, it was always her gift which she saw on Maven’s bed when she went to her house. So she knew for sure that if she did something for Maven herself, she’d wear it.

The only problem was she didn’t quite know how to do it. Her sewing abilities _definitely_ didn’t go far enough for her current objective. She had, however, began learning how to knit in her free time. She hadn’t done anything big yet, but her tries with scarves and beanies and purses had gone well. Maybe she could try.

With that in mind, she asked her mother for black yarn, and spent as much time as she could following tutorials on YouTube in order to do it.

Unfortunately, it took longer than she expected due to her inexperience, and by the time it got done, winter had already arrived. She had to admit to being a little upset about it, but agility would come with practice, she supposed. And, well, she was somewhat happy with the results, even though it looked weird at a few places, and that’s what mattered. That she was happy with it, and that it fit and warmed Maven better than that darn hoodie. 

She’d decided to call Maven over for cocoa at her house in order to surprise her with it. When her friend arrived, she’d asked if she could just show her something before they made their drinks and settled on the couch with a TV program. Maven had agreed, of course, and had been taken to Johanna’s room. She had to admit, she couldn’t hide her smile on her way there. She only hopped Maven would like it!

When Johanna had opened her wardrobe and taken the sweater out of the hanger, Maven widened her eyes and smiled. She’d told her that it looked _so good_ , and that she was really becoming a great knitter. Johanna blushed under the compliments, but was a little confused as to why Maven hadn’t taken it out of her hands. She furrowed her brow, extending it even further towards her.

“Here.” She said, nearly nudging her friend with the sweater. “It’s yours.”

It looked like Maven took a few moments to understand it. Her eyes widened again and her mouth opened in surprise. She looked between the gift and her friend’s face.

“F- for me?” She whispered, touching the dark wool of the sweater. 

“Yeah! I… hope it fits!” She knew it would fit. She had made it bigger than necessary, in order to be sure it would fit Maven without needing to ask for measurements. And also because she’d look _adorable_ in an oversized sweater.

Maven looked again at her face and took a step forward, squeezing Johanna into a tight hug with the sweater between them. Johanna hugged her back, giddy over her extremely positive reaction. If practice made perfect, than she was going to make sure to get a lot of practice.

She was _not_ going to let her friend feel cold again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m trying my best to finish the next chapter of The Mistakes We Made this week, but sunset it’s not looking really good, at least I can give you guys this


End file.
